help please

[Sir Speedy]

I am working on my first pin-up and have run into a snag. What is easiest/best way to do the hair? I have attached my refferance picture and what I have so far.

Also any criticism/tips is/are welcome. (the white lines are from the cling wrap i put over the piece to prevent the residual adhesive from messing up my scanner-see other post in the tech support)

[KDSilverBrush]

Sir, I would paint the shape of the hair in first, with the darker colors, leaving the highlited colors blank, then add the highlites, and any other darker color after that ,that may need to be added . After ya get the basic color and highlites down, step back , take a look, and ya should be able to see if a strand or two needs more highlite or more color here n there.There is probably someone else here that can give ya better info, but thats the way I would approach it.

[fontgeek]

Hmm, I would probably block in the basic shape using the lighter colors first, then go back and add the darker colors over the lighter. It's easier to cover light colors than dark colors. Depending upon the kind of paint, and what you are painting on, you may be able to scratch or erase out highlights and single strands of hair. Don't try to paint every hair, just showing a few strands and highlights on the hairs closest to the viewer is the way I would do it. In real life, you don't see every hair as an individual, you see patches or areas of color, it is the few strands and highlights that tell our brains that the whole mass is made up of hair.
Remember to paint using strokes that follow the flow of the hair. Even though you won't see individual hairs, it is amazing how much the path you follow comes through visually.
Good luck, keep us posted with progress reports and photos.

[Sir Speedy]

Thanks for chiming in folks, I had to scratch this piece and start over. When I took the cling wrap off I didn't realize how "sticky" it was and it pulled and large amount of my paint up with it. I will be trying it again, and will take progress pics as I go but I am without a compressor for a little while.

[lsabourin]

Speedy, the way to do this is by using the eraser/X-acto knife technique. I don't know if there are tutorials on this but it takes practice. Basically you paint and then remove some paint with an eraser where you need highlites. Use the knife for very thin lines like hair strands.

L

[luke]

this depends if you are puting the background in ,if you are you should of masked out the female form first and painted the background first ,then when you come to do the hair you can freehand it over the outline edge that is left,but if you only fade the background in towards the masking you should be able to complete this area freehand without any edges

[Airbrush Dreams]

OK here goes, are you ready? Start with the mid tones of the hair in long sweeping fine dagger strokes. Make sure to follow the pattern of the hair. don't worry if it looks flat at first, also don't fill in completely, I would say 70% coverage next move to the darkest tone in the hair concentrating on the darker areas and pulling some fine strokes through the lighter areas. Then do the same with a highlight mixture of your mid-tone and some tinting white and some blue but very little blue. the reason I say blue is her hair looks almost black and if you just use whit it will look gray. ( check out my panther in my photo gallery and you will understand ) Now go in with a mist of a mixture of brown, blue and violet to deepen the shadow areas and give more body to the hair. next mist over the high light areas with the highlight mixture and a little more white added. If the highlights appear to bright mist over with a little browns and blues whichever brings you closer to your reference. You can also mist in some violet to give more warmth to your browns. Just rememberer not to cover up all of you dagger strokes just in the darkest of areas. I hope this helps

[Airbrush Dreams]

After looking a little more at the referance use very little blue and more brown and blacks and yellows. Just don't mist the yellows over the bues becue you will end up with green hair.

[KDSilverBrush]

opppss........fontgeek is right, start with the light colors first :-/ And AD, thats a great explaination.

[fontgeek]

Speedy, did you redo this piece, or something similar?
I am curious to see how it came out, and what method(s) you used.
The hair issue is one LOTS of airbrushers have trouble with, so while we may discuss your piece in particular, it is a great learning experience for a great many people.
Please, keep us posted, and take plenty of photos!
Good luck.